1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable information terminal, an opening/closing operation method of such a portable information terminal, and a display method thereof.
2. Description of the Background Art
The technique of changing the portrait orientation of the display to a landscape orientation in a conventional portable information terminal such as a mobile phone is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2003-319043, for example. Referring to FIG. 57 showing such a mobile phone, this mobile phone 510 includes a lower unit 501, an upper unit 502, and a hinge 503. Lower and upper units 501 and 502 are coupled in a foldable manner via hinge 503. Lower unit 501 includes a manipulation unit 511 with various keys. Upper unit 502 includes a display unit 502a with a display 521, and a support unit 502b supporting display unit 502a in a rotation manner.
Mobile phone 510 attains an open state (FIG. 57 (a)) by rotation of upper unit 502 about hinge 503 relative to lower unit 501 from a closed state in which lower and upper units 501 and 502 are folded with respect to each other (not shown). In the open state, display 521 corresponds to a portrait orientation (a display longer in the vertical direction). By rotating display unit 502a relative to support unit 502b from the open state (FIG. 57 (a)), display unit 521 can take a landscape orientation (a display longer in the horizontal direction) (FIG. 57 (b)-(d)).
Mobile phone 510 disclosed in the aforementioned publication requires two rotating operations in order to set display 521 in a landscape orientation from the folded state of lower and upper units 501 and 502. Specifically, the operation of rotating upper unit 502 relative to lower unit 501, and the operation of rotating display unit 502a relative to support unit 502b are required. There was a problem that such operation is tedious. In an open state (FIG. 57 (a)), the user holds lower unit 501 with his/her hand, and display unit 502a is supported rotatably with respect to support unit 502b. In the case where the operator is to rotate display unit 502a to attain a landscape orientation using his/her hand that is currently holding lower unit 501, the finger of the user's hand holding lower unit 501 must be stretched towards support unit 502b. Since the operator cannot easily stretch his/her finger in order to rotate display unit 502a 90°, the shifting operation to a landscape orientation cannot be completed by just one operation of the operator. This is inconvenient since the user cannot complete the shifting operation to a landscape display with just one hand.
There was also the problem that it was difficult to adjust the sensitivity of the antenna of the portable information terminal.